Republicans have nobody but themselves to blame for their seething frustration with President Obama. Their ideologues destroyed Mitt Romney in the primaries, but then the party nominated him anyway, and he was trounced. And, now with Obama on the eve of a second term, they have no new ideas with which to counter him, and the public is getting tired of their old ones. This same Republican tribe came close to pushing the country over the fiscal cliff because they clung to a 30-year-old dogma that no taxes could ever rise on the well-to-do. They still wield the club of the debt ceiling and will no doubt try to force a government shut-down They embrace, or don't denounce, one of their biggest benefactors: the NRA. Take a look at this if you want to see just how dark the heart of the NRA has become. I have been around political advertising for more than 30 years, and I have never seen anything so disgusting. The fact that it will be effective with the NRA donor base is further proof of the dark forces at work in the Republican Party today.

By the way, the NRA has Republicans so cowed that some of them are beginning to say some things they may regret. Rep. Charles Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican, signaled his probable opposition to any new gun control by saying the focus should be on mental health. Okay, but then the congressman went on to say, “It’s very difficult to get somebody committed.” Is it just me, or does this comment strike anyone else as a little strange? Yes, getting people locked up in insane asylums against their wills is difficult. Do Republicans want to make that easier? And do they really want the government making those kinds of decisions, because, right now, the NRA leadership might be first in line for committal.

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Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.